Alcohol issue a priority in the Swedish EU presidency
It is not that the Swedish Government has kept its plans under wraps until the last moment. Far from it. For years the Swedish Government has said that Europe should adopt Sweden’s restrictive alcohol policies because it produces health benefits.
The Swedish Government, supported by WHO figures, argues that around 58 million Europeans (out of almost 500 million people) are drinking with high risk. It claims further that Europe has the highest alcohol consumption in the world and alcohol is the third largest risk factor for early death. This is something that particularly affects young people between the ages of 15-29 years, where alcohol death strikes hardest.
Moreover 10 000 people die each year in alcohol-related traffic accidents in Europe, the Swedish Government believes.
Although brewers and alcohol producers have always argued that self-regulation works best, the Swedish Government believes that state intervention is to be preferred. In fact, the EU has already interfered to such an extent that age limits for purchase of alcohol have risen across the EU; minimum prices are discussed and lowered BAC limits (Blood Alcohol Concentration) in traffic have been implemented in several countries.
The EU presidency is a rotating affair. Before the Swedish government it was the Czech Government which presided over the EU.
Unlike the Czech Government, which took a rather relaxed attitude towards alcohol issues, the Swedish EU presidency will make sure that alcohol as a public health concern will be kept as a prioritized question and will work towards toward harmonizing alcohol policies within the EU.
In 2010 the EU presidency will first go to Spain then to Belgium. These two countries should put alcohol matters more into perspective again.
However, as the EU is a complex affair of deals and bargains – “you agree to this, I support you in that” – no one can be sure that more restrictive alcohol policies will not be agreed upon by many countries eventually, even those with liberal notions of alcohol consumption. Such is the EU.
